“We’re not spending enough time in the design process so that we’re able to incorporate these new ideas into our events,” Jessie States, manager of professional development for Meeting Professionals International, said in the report.

She suggested being more strategic and collecting data to support your efforts and convince the meeting owners that the time needed to design a better meeting is worth it.

Convention services staff can help find local sources for transportation, tours, off-site venues, caterers, and entertainment. While delegating tasks to them can save time, their assistance does not stop there. Staff members also bring a wealth of knowledge. Planners can bounce ideas off them and ask what they’ve seen that has worked or what has flopped.

Steele herself is a millennial and can speak from that perspective, while some of her colleagues have been in the business longer and can add wisdom and experience to what they see playing out.

“We work with so many different organizations and types of meetings and planners and we can share different people’s stories,” she said.